


holdin' you tight

by louvregood



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Prom, slow dancing in a parking lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24535765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louvregood/pseuds/louvregood
Summary: Screw it, Piper thinks. She bends down for the shoes, because as painful as they were, she really does want to slow dance with her best friend in the parking lot of an In-N-Out, as indie-cliché as it sounds.
Relationships: Piper McLean/Leo Valdez
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	holdin' you tight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pearlselegancies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearlselegancies/gifts).



> dedicated to pearl because her headcanon about leo and piper leaving prom early to go get food awakened something in me
> 
> also if you've picked up on what the slow dance song is going to be by the title, you have immaculate acquired tastes

Piper took off her heels two hours ago.

The five-inch gold platform sandals were carelessly thrown under her seat, having been yanked off by Piper the minute they found an empty table inside the venue. They had been her mothers idea, much to her (and her dates) chagrin. They were pretty, and complemented her red empire-waisted dress beautifully, but walking in them felt like hell. 

She got some nice pictures, at least. Except the one’s where she towered over her date like a giant. Eventually she took pity on him and took the heels off so they could have a decent picture where they stood at the same height. She’s never going to let him live it down.

“Here, you are, milady.”

Speak of the devil. Leo had returned with Piper’s requested fruit punch, his own drink in the other hand. She takes it from him, gratefully.

“Thank you,” she says, ignoring the ‘milady.’

He sits down in the chair next to her. Piper takes this as an invitation to lift her legs up and hook them over his lap. He glares playfully at her. “What am I, your footstool?”

Piper pouts at him. “My feet hurt.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re just lucky I don’t have a thing about feet.” He takes a sip of his drink. “I guess that means you don’t wanna dance anymore, huh?”

Piper shakes her head. The dancing had only just started, the first hour here spent on serving dinner. Piper hadn’t eaten much except some mac and cheese and a fruit kebob, there being no vegetarian options for main entrees. They ate, and then they danced. And by danced, she means Leo did cringey social media dances to every song that played while Piper cackled like an idiot.

The music isn’t that good, the same top 40 songs that she hears every day. If she has to hear another Post Malone song she’s going to lose her mind.

“That’s fine,” Leo says, leaning back. “We can just chill.”

Piper makes a noise of displeasure. “Or we can leave.”

Leo’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Wait, seriously?”

Piper nods. Leo blinks at her a few times in silence. Crap, maybe he doesn’t want to leave.

She goes to backtrack. “I mean, we can stay if you want, sorry. I’m just kinda over it already.”

“Um, _fuck_ no I don’t want to stay.”

Pipers eyebrows shoot up, a grin breaking out on her face at the same time. “For real?”

“Piper, I love you, and I’m super happy you asked me to be your date and all, but I’d rather _not_ be surrounded by all these privileged rich kids the entire night,” he announces, and God does Piper feel the same way. Their alikeness makes Piper erupt in laughter.

She removes her legs from across his lap, already throwing the chain-strap of her purse over her head. Her mother had insisted on a clutch, but Piper hates holding things, so they’d settled on a nice Michael Kors for her to carry on her shoulder instead. “Let’s dip.”

Giddily, they stood up and began making their way toward to exit together.

“Where we going?” Leo asks.

“I’m dying of hunger,” says Piper. She gasps when the idea comes to her head. “In-N-Out?”

“I like your thinking, McLean.”

It’s when they step outside the venue onto the concrete that Piper realizes she’s not wearing any shoes. She curses, hiking up her dress in preparation to run back inside, but Leo stops her, claiming he’ll get them. Piper’s smiles fondly as she watches him job back inside. Maybe she was more of an act of service kind of gal than she thought.

He returns with them not long after, kneeling down to help her put them on. Piper makes a noise of protest. “As cute as the Cinderella moment is, there is no way in _hell_ I’m putting those torture devices back on.”

Leo looks up at her, expression saying something like _are you stupid?_

“Are you stupid? What if you step on glass or something?”

Piper smirks at him, and takes advantage of his position on the floor to get behind him and wrap herself around his back. He groans in protest, but wraps his arms around her thighs anyhow. Piper hooks her fingers around the straps of her heels before he stands up.

“Your dress is making it hard to get a grip,” he says, hoisting her up higher. “Pipes, if you fall and hurt yourself your dad will kill me.”

“Better not fucking drop me then, Valdez.”

He doesn’t drop her. Contrary to what people may think, Leo has incredible upper arm strength. All of the mechanic work he does with his mother basically equated to arm day at the gym.

Once they make it to his car, he sets Piper down on the passenger side. He unlocks the doors, and Piper immediately plops down into her seat, tossing her purse and heels to the floor by her feet. She grabs the aux cord, already queuing up some music she can actually tolerate on her phone.

“Seatbelt, madam,” Leo reminds her, buckling his and putting the key in the ignition. Piper huffs but tugs her seatbelt across her chest like she’s told. “All We Got” by Chance the Rapper blares through his speakers.

As Leo pulls out of the parking lot, he rolls down all of the windows. Piper knows he does this because she loves the feeling of the wind on her face. She throws a grateful smile his way, but he doesn’t notice because his eyes are focused on the road.

Piper leans back in her seat and gets comfortable, the small grin still painted on her lips. It’s only been five minutes since they left but she’s already having so much more fun.

\- 

In-N-Out doesn’t have any vegetarian meat-alternatives, but vegetables and cheese on bun still managed to taste amazing. That, along with an order of cheese fries and a chocolate milkshake, made Piper feel like she was on cloud nine at the moment.

She moans around another mouthful of food. “I wanna marry this burger.”

Leo takes a sip of his root-beer float, all the while staring at Piper bemusedly. He removes the straw from his mouth. “It’s just bread and lettuce, weirdo.”

Piper digs a stray fry from the bottom of her bag and throws it at his face.

“ _Oye_ , Piper. I just cleaned my car.” He continues to cuss at her in Spanish as he picks up the french fry off the floor and tosses it through the window. She giggles around the straw of her milkshake.

They sit in Leo’s car in the In-N-Out parking lot, having gone through the drive-thru instead of inside at Piper’s request. She really didn’t want to be stared at because of her dress. Putting her shoes back on was not going to happen, either.

Frank Ocean’s quiet voice plays softly through the car speakers as they eat their food. Personally, Piper thought her music taste was a hundred times better than whatever trash DJ her school hired for their prom.

Piper lets out a gasp, suddenly remembering something. “Oh, no!”

Leo is startled. “Pipes, if you spilled something I’m gonna kick your _ass_.”

“No, shut up!” Piper defends herself. She puts her milkshake back in the cupholder, just to ease Leo’s anxiety about his stupid car. She turns in her seat to look at him. “We left before the slow dance.”

“Oh,” Leo’s face falls. 

Piper feels stupid. Of course they left before the slow dance. They hadn’t been there for more than two hours. Prom king and queen hadn’t even been announced by the time they dipped.

She shouldn’t feel as disappointed as she does. It was her idea to leave after all. Although, now she would have to wait until her wedding to slow dance with someone, and who knows if _that_ event will ever take place.

“I mean,” Leo says, interrupting her stream of consciousness. “Do you still want to?”

“What?”

“Do you want to pull an indie coming-of-age movie and slow dance in the parking lot?”

That’s. . .an idea Piper really likes actually. But—

“My heels,” she complains. She eyes the the footwear with hatred.

Screw it, Piper thinks. She bends down for the shoes, because as painful as they were, she really does want to slow dance with her best friend in the parking lot of an In-N-Out, as indie-cliché as it sounds.

“Wait,” Leo tells her. He leans over the armrest into the back, stretching as far as he could behind Piper’s seat.

“What are you doing?”

Leo pops back up, looking disheveled. He holds a worn pair of brown sandals in his hand. He grins cheekily, holding them out for her to take. “Looking for these.”

She doesn’t take them. “What the hell are those.”

“My moms chanclas. Put ‘em on. Unless you wanna wear the heels.”

She really didn’t. Begrudgingly, she takes the sandals from him and slips them onto her feet. They’re a size too big, and _very_ ugly, but Piper’s pedicure makes up for it.

“Let me pick a song,” she declares, already picking up her phone and opening her streaming app.

“Nuh uh.” Leo snatches her own phone out her hand. “I have the _perfect_ song, thank you very much.”

“Absolutely no Ed Sheeran.”

“Who do you think I am?”

Piper squints at him. “And no country bullshit, either.”

Leo places a hand over his heart in offense. “Excuse you. Country music is for people with immaculate acquired tastes.”

She rolls her eyes. You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas out of the boy.

He orders her to stand outside the car in the empty parking spot next to them while he readies the song. It’s slightly chilly, the sun having long gone down and a cool breeze passing through. The stars are visible tonight, and then moon is bright, nearing its fullest phase. Piper thinks this is so much better than a stuffy ballroom with a hundred other kids.

The first few notes of the song pull her out of her reverie. She immediately gasps, placing both hands over her mouth. Leo emerges from the car, looking what Piper can only describe as smug.

“What a throwback,” she comments, smiling at him. The intro of the song leads into the first verse, and Selena’s soft, dreamy voice sounds throughout the parking lot.

“It was only right,” he replies. He extends his hand out to her in invitation, which she gracefully accepts. As she’s pulled into his warm embrace, she locks her hands around his neck, and he places his on her hips. “Dreaming of You” transitions into the chorus, and they begin to sway together, slowly.

Even when all she has to do is sway back and forth, Piper is a terrible dancer. She keeps stepping on Leo’s feet. He’s very lucky she’s not wearing the heels right now. She also kept falling off-beat, Leo reprimanding her every time she does so. “All you have to do is step back and forth, Pipes. What the hell.”

Piper laughs off her embarrassment, tucking her face into the crook where Leo’s neck met his shoulder. He complains about her nose being cold, but pulls her closer anyway. He hums along to the song, the vibrations from his chest lulling her.

There’s a loud honking from a nearby car, which causes them to startle. In the direction it came is a car in the drive-thru, the driver lowering their passenger window to cheer them on. Piper and Leo meet each others eyes before bursting out in laughter. 

They wave at the driver as they pull around the building, the song is nearing its end. Leo sighs, and looks over at Piper with mirth in his eyes. “Sleep over at mine?”

Piper grins back at him. “Absolutely.”

She’ll have to text her parents to let them know. They’re going to want to hear all about how prom was eventually. She’ll decide later if she’s gonna tell them the truth, or if she’s going to keep this perfect night to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: it took me about twenty minutes to figure out what the slow dance song was going to be. i was scouring google for good ones, because i could only think of two, one of which i have reserved for a novel/screenplay i'm writing, and the other i have reserved for my own wedding (if that event ever takes place). so i was really stuck for a bit before i just went into my own playlists and dreaming of you SLAPPED me in the face. it was so fitting for leo to pick it too. my mind.
> 
> anyway, hope you enjoyed. visit me on tumblr @blackgwenstacy


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